GDP

ASIA

Baillie Gifford's European equity specialist Tom Coutts said the Italian election was not a game-changer for markets, but has thrown up opportunities for stockpickers as uncertainty hit share prices.

Q4 2012 US GDP has been revised up from 0.1% to 0.4%, though the figure remains the lowest level of quarterly growth seen since Q1 2011.

The third reading of UK's GDP growth for Q4 2012 has confirmed a 0.3% contraction between the third and fourth quarter.

ECONOMY

Britain is on track for a triple-dip recession, one of the nation's leading forecasters has signalled, as new figures on the UK's manufacturing industry dealt a blow to recovery hopes and sent sterling crashing to a fresh two-and-a-half year low.

Fears that the UK is heading for a triple-dip recession appear to have been confirmed by worse-than-expected January manufacturing data, analysts have suggested.

Chancellor George Osborne's Budget next week runs the risk of being a "dangerous missed opportunity" if he sticks to his guns on austerity, leading economist Roger Bootle (pictured) has said.

ITALY

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